Boomer Bus (oz4951)
About this Plan
Boomer Bus. Free flight gas model.
The Henry Struck Boomer Bus (oz12252) first appeared in Air Trails, Feb 1941. This here is a later redrawn plan from Model Builder magazine issue 09-81. Re-drawn by Al Patterson.
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Update 07/05/2020: Added article, thanks to Pit.
Quote: "Old Timer Model of the Month. Boomer Bus. Designed by Henry Struck. Drawn by Al Patterson. Text by Bill Northrop.
Is there another modeler in this world who has created more original designs in nearly every facet of model aviation than Henry Struck? Recent generations may not know his work as well as those who were hacking balsa throughout the 30's, 40's, and 50's, but that is their misfortune. On the other hand, many of his designs are still perpetuating his genius, and among those, the Boomer Bus is another example of his ability to get out of the rut and still create a classic in the process.
The Boomer Bus was inspired by a full-size classic, the Bowlus Baby Albatross sailplane, featuring a finely propor-tioned pod-and-boom fuselage. Construction is not exactly for the amateur builder, but the pleasing and unusual results are well worth the effort. The fuselage fillets can be left off, and the gull wing section can be built straight without affecting performance, but really, the challenge of duplicating the graceful wing curves and the smooth fuselage filleting is too tempting. We've duplicated some of Hank's original construction hints to help you along. The complete article was in the February 1941 issue of Air Trails, in case you know someone with a complete library.
The ship has a 380 sq in wing area, which puts it in the old Class B (.20 to .30 cu in) size though it would also perf orm well with a hot ignition .19 for Class A. If used with R/C Assist, an .09 or .10 glow engine should make it hop around pretty well.
Here are some construction hints taken directly and/or in part from the
original article:
FUSELAGE: It is best to begin work by making the boom first to allow construction to con-tinue uninterrupted while the blank is drying. Select a sheet of straight-grained medium-hard 1/8 sheet balsa, cut it to the size required for the boom blank and soak it thoroughly in hot water. Mold it carefully around a straight length of broomstick or rod of similar diameter and wrap it with cloth bandage 10 hold it while drying. The wood may be baked slightly to hasten drying, although the safest way is to set the stick aside for about twenty-four hours and work on the fuselage, or pod..."
Supplementary file notes
Article.
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(oz4951)
Boomer Bus
by Henry Struck
from Model Builder
September 1981
54in span
IC F/F
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 20/10/2013
Filesize: 778KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: theshadow
Downloads: 1800
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User comments
Hi there, Thought you might like a few pics of my new Boomer Bus! Based on the 1981 re-draw of the original plans, mine is powered by a 3S brushless system, and is covered in tissue over Doculam [005-013]. I built the curved wing on a curved building board - wet laminating the spars, LE and TE. The fuselage boom is two layers of wet 1/16 balsa sheet, wrapped around a tapered walking stick. The model flies very nicely and predictably, with no vices.Tim Hooper - 25/10/2022
Unusual and beautiful , nice work!
tom - 27/10/2022
I built the (Henry Struck) Boomer Bus from the OZ plan, so I thought I'd return the favour and send you a picture of the completed model in flight [I made this the new main pic, it was previously pic 013 - Mary]. OK, so it's RC controlled and electric powered, so don't hate me, OK? I built the curved wing panels on a piece of cork-covered hardboard, that was bent over wooden battens. All of the spars, LE and TE were laminated from soaked balsa and pinned to dry. The fuselage boom is two layers of 1/16" sheet balsa, wrapped around a walking stick [see pic 008]. There's a 170watt outrunner in the nose, powered by a 3S 1800 li-po. At 29oz AUW, the Bus has more than enough power. The open areas are covered in tissue over Doculam. Controls are rudder, elevator and throttle. It's a super flier - stable and smooth.
Tim Hooper - 14/04/2023
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- Boomer Bus (oz4951)
- Plan File Filesize: 778KB Filename: Boomer_Bus-MB-09-81_oz4951.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1994KB Filename: Boomer_Bus-MB-09-81_oz4951_article.pdf
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Notes
* Credit field
The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.
Scaling
This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.
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